The Trinity Restaurant

[jeremysco]

I am going for supper at the Trinity Restaurant in Orford Suffolk next Saturday and was wondering if anybody knew about it or about the chef. I have been told that "they are the people from Hintlesham Hall" (where Alan Ford cooks)

The address to site/menus etc is below. All tips or suggestions gratefully received.

www.thecrownandcastlehotel.co.uk

Anyway having built myself up for a meal at Guellers in Leeds on my last trip out of London (thanks for all the suggestions)instead I arrived on a train that ran five hours late and ended up with a tuna sandwich and a can of perrier. So this is a long awaited treat.

Completely unrelated but I cooked some rhubarb with moscavado sugar and a sprig rosemary last night. It was absolutely superb.  I cant believe that its original but I'd never heard of or tried it before and it was done on a whim. Anyway its to be reccomended.

[Bapi]

Jeremysco

You are quite right. The Watson's did use to run Hintlesham Hall and also The Fox and Goose at Fressingfield, I believe.

Ruth Watson is an accomplished food writer and regular contributor to Good Food Magazine and the Daily Mail.

We have stayed there  three times and eaten there about five times in the last year and have found the food  there to be excellent on each occasion. Things to look out for and try are; Scallops marinated in Mirin (blooming marvellous) and fresh local oysters from Butley( just down the road).

Our most recent visit was in March to celebrate a friend's

30th Birthday.( We , er, perhaps kept the Bar staff up a little too late on that particular visit) Although not on the menu, they went out of their way to have the aforementioned scallops, put back on the menu especially. Also had an excellent steak there, served with the sort of chips cooked in something  you know isn't terribly good for you, but that taste so good, you really don't care.

They have managed  to create a genuinely excellent operation with their ethos to  provide good food at reasonable price, without a hint of the pretension that pervades through some other Hotels we have stayed and eaten at. I also heartily recommend staying over there as well, great rooms with not an atom of chintz to be seen.

Have a good meal and let us know how you got on.

[jeremysco]

Thanks again Pallab.

I gather from your email that this is your first posting. As a relative newcomer myself I can tell you that the depth of knowledge of some of these guys can be very intimidating!

I am in the " I dont know much but I knows what I like" camp. I was a waiter all through school and university as well as working part-time in kitchens for about two years. I then managed a cajun wine bar (!) in Leicester for one year before it became more of a cocktail bar and I left to help open a real ale pub. Ever since then (12 years ago) I have been in print sales and spend most of my time taking people to eat lunch. The joy for me in a big sale is not in the commission but in the meal that we can go for to celebrate. I am lucky enough to have eaten at Gavroche, RHR, Le Manoir, Oak Room, etc and been paid to do it.

It is fantastic to hear people with as much love of food talking about it and helping to give a greater understanding. It is also great to read the petty arguments. Whatever you do, dont just look at the British pages. The other nationalities are just as good.

[Bapi]

Jeremysco,

Gosh, you lucky blighter. Closing a deal, eating at Le Gavroche, Le Manoir et al, and getting paid as well! What in life, could be better?

I too have always had a keen interest in food but didn't quite  get the foodie obsession I now have, until a life affirming meal at The Merchant House , Ludlow way back in 1999. Scallops with Corriander and Lentils, followed by the pinkest venison , with foie gras. I'm afraid I have Shaun Hill to thank for my ever diminishing disposable income and the fact that I had to sell a kidney to fund my eating out (the last bit is a slight embellishment).

Pray tell, how was your meal at The Trinity?

Bapi( aka - Pallab)

[jeremysco]

Bapi,

The Trinity is next Saturday .

Who did you sell your kidney to? Was it St Johns?

[Bapi]

Gosh, how the devil did you find out? There I was tucking into Roast marrowbone and parsley salad the one minute and the next, waking up in a bathtub full of ice. That Fergus Henderson bloke will be hearing from me shortly?

I jest- haven't had the pleasure of dining there yet, but I have been leaving hugely unsubtle clues around the flat - copy of GFG open at the appropriate page, Restaurant Game article etc.- in regard of fast approaching birthday in June.  Has anyone out there been and what would you recommend apart from the above dish - which I will definitely be trying.

Re: The Trinity, other recommendations are Fish cake with a poached egg served on top, Roquefort and spiced pear salad and hot bitter chocolate mousse.

[Tonyfinch]

Ate at The Trinity last night and despite a slightly dreary atmosphere found the food good to very good.

Seared cod with pancetta and aioli on a bed of puy lentils, and fried skate wing with black pudding,lemon butter and peas both offerered spankingly fresh and flavoursome pieces of locally caught fish. I have a problem sometimes with fish and meat together and I wasn't convinced by the pancetta with the cod or the black pudding with the skate. Also the puy lentils,although described on the menu as "zippy" (ie spicy) were,in fact underseasoned,despite the saltiness of the pancetta.I reckon anyone who loves authentic Indian dahl would have found the same.

The real stars of the meal was a starter of roast parsnip,sage,red onion and mascarpone quiche which was truly heavenly-the crunch of onion,the power of sage,mixed with the unctiousness of the mascarpone and featherlight pastry worked brilliantly- and a lovely cherry and almond frangipane tart served with vanilla custard which confirmed a brilliant pastry chef in the kitchen.

This is a restaurant where no starter costs more than £7 and no main more than £14. The wine prices are also very reasonable. If I lived near enough I would eat here once a week.

The night before we ate at The Crown in Southwold-an old favourite. This place,indeed the town it seems,is owned by Adnams and the wine list is brilliant, with most mark ups being less than 100% of the retail price at their Wine Store next door.

The food in the restaurant,however,was very ordinary and the service bordering on the shambolic.People appeared to be having much more fun in the adjacent bar area where more or less the same food is available,but you can't book a table there so unless you're prepared to be ensconced at 6.15pm getting in is very hit and miss.

[mrshugget]

Was it dreary because hardly anyone was there? Or dreary because there was? Ooo, that quiche sounds delicious. Delicious! Real men eat quiche and share the experience. Thank you for that!

[Tonyfinch]

It was half empty on a Thursday night and maybe the decor in the restaurant could do with cheering up a bit. It was a cold night but the fire in the restaurant remained unlit- it wasn't cold in the restaurant but a fire would have lifted the atmosphere.

[jeremysco]

My initial review obviously didnt make it through to the site! We had a throughly nice time both at The Trinity (and at The Crown too although I couldnt agree more about the chaos there although we ate in the bar rather than the restaurant.)

I have the same thoughts, that the atmosphere at The Trinity was subdued. I wandered at the time if this was due to the staff seeming to be afraid of the owners. (I saw two staff soundly, sarcastically and publicly bollocked for relatively minor offences). They all seemed nervous rather than confident.

Food wise, I remember a bucket of good white bean soup that could have fed an army and was awash with Truffle oil. It was a case of overegging the pudding, if you get my meaning.

I had supper at The Capital last night. Jolly good, but I didn't think that it stood up to RHR overall. Mind you at least it was open on a Sunday night.

The thing that amused me most was that, following ecstatic reviews here, I had deliberately gone along for the puddings, cheeses, petit fours etc and yet Nigel Lawson was at a nearby table sticking rigidly to his "no puddings no cheese" diet regime. He looked trim and he made a fortune from the book but what a wasted opportunity.

Has anyone been to other restaurants that now supply pallette killing Moulton Brown mouthwash free in the toilets. Helps you to get that horrible taste out of your mouth!

[Tonyfinch]

Jeremy-Madame wasn't present while we were there. According to the place's newsletter she was taking a sabbatical to "lose her fifth stone" and to write a book about how she lost it and the previous four in one year!!

I can tell you she didn't manage it by eating too much of that mascarpone quiche.

Maybe losing all that weight so quickly has affected her personality (it did mine when I lost two pounds the other week) and she's gone from being a cherubic happy-go-lucky type to a cavern faced harridan scolding her staff at every turn and prone to unpredictable tantrums and mood swings.